Voter Turnout Highest in Bradley Strongholds : Angelenos Go to Polls to Elect Mayor, City Attorney, Controller and Eight Council Members

Relatively high turnouts in areas that have traditionally supported Mayor Tom Bradley were reported as Los Angeles voters went to the polls Tuesday to pick a mayor, city attorney, controller and eight council members.

Also on the ballot were seven proposed Charter amendments, including ones to enlarge the City Council and greatly restrict the financing of local campaigns. Three seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education also were before school district voters, and incumbents in three Los Angeles Community College Board races were trying to fend off challengers.

The voter turnouts in South-Central, Southwest and West Los Angeles were running above the citywide average by late afternoon, the city clerk’s office reported.

By late Tuesday afternoon, only 21.1% of the city’s registered voters had cast ballots, but voter turnout was running in the mid-20s percentile in traditional Bradley strongholds.

Low Turnout in Valley

By contrast, the lowest district turnouts--16.4% and 17.3%--were both in the San Fernando Valley, where Bradley’s main challenger, Councilman John Ferraro, pinned his biggest hopes.

A spokesman for City Clerk Elias Martinez, who had predicted a 35% to 45% turnout, said late Tuesday afternoon that the turnout would probably be closer to 40%.

A record high number of absentee ballots--almost 22,000 in a preliminary tally--also was reported.

While the early turnout seemed to favor Bradley’s bid for a history-making fourth term, the effect was unclear in the hotly contested race for city attorney, pitting City Controller James Kenneth Hahn against attorney Lisa Specht.

The mayoral and city attorney races offered a sharp contrast.

Bradley started far ahead in the polls, and no matter what Ferraro did he could not seem to catch him. The city attorney contest, on the other hand, was unpredictable even from the beginning and then, with the withdrawal of Murray Kane, an attorney specializing in redevelopment law, and Deputy City Attys. Charles Zinger and Betsy Mogul, became completely unfathomable at the end.

There was also a contrast in issues. Even though Bradley consistently appeared to be the winner in the polls, sharp differences developed between him and his foe on important issues, and they attacked each other in a personal manner. Specht and Hahn, on the other hand, refrained from personal attacks until the very end. And, rather than espousing their differences on the issues, they devoted their attention to portraying themselves as the one who would be the best municipal prosecutor. Major substantive differences did not emerge.

At the outset, Ferraro clearly began with a campaign agenda.

He promised to increase the Police Department without raising taxes, in contrast to Bradley’s backing of a 1,200-officer boost financed by a property tax increase.

Ferraro advocated a light rail system to be built along freeways, in contrast to Bradley’s backing of the Metro Rail subway project, designed to connect downtown Los Angeles with the San Fernando Valley.

Challenger Seemed to Falter

Yet, after that start, and an intensive early concentration on the San Fernando Valley--where Ferraro hoped to get substantial support--the challenger seemed to falter.

He blasted Bradley on some of his appointments and attacked him for his support of downtown redevelopment and his unexpected switch in favor of Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s proposal to drill for oil on the Pacific Palisades.

But Ferraro’s long support for downtown redevelopment and the oil drilling weakened his attacks.

Although the field was crowded at the beginning, the election for city attorney wound up pitting Hahn, a former deputy city attorney who has been city controller for the last four years, against Specht, an attorney and political newcomer with the backing of influential Westside liberal Democrats.

To win outright, a candidate needs more than 50% of the total vote. Otherwise there will be a runoff election on June 4.

Both Hahn and Specht had been anticipating a runoff, so they both adhered to a high-road style of campaigning for the last three months, mostly avoiding direct criticism of each other. Hahn stressed his citywide administrative and prosecution experience, while Specht promoted four crime-related issues that had generated favorable publicity for former City Atty. Ira Reiner, who endorsed her.

But the complexion of the race changed dramatically last week when the three candidates--who Specht had hoped would attract enough votes to force Hahn into a runoff--unexpectedly withdrew and endorsed Hahn. Suddenly faced with a two-way race, Specht abandoned her issues-oriented campaign style and went on the attack last Friday, charging that Hahn’s influential father, Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, had engineered an endorsement of young Hahn by his principal detractor, Kane.

On Monday, Specht resumed her attack during a radio talk show. Still predicting a runoff despite polling results showing Hahn close to a primary election victory, Specht said that voters would reject the “downtown political bosses” and elect her. Hahn, meanwhile, said Specht was merely a tool of her Westside supporters who are trying to take over City Hall.

The controller contest remained in the background, overshadowed at first by the mayoral race and then by the wave of developments for city attorney.

Dan Shapiro waged a dogged campaign from the outset, hitting fiscally oriented issues and then, at the end, using television commercials to move ahead of the pack.

Alice Travis, Rick Tuttle and Celes King III each tried to get their share of the vote. Travis, who ran for the office last year, was endorsed by prominent Democrats and sought to use her history of past Democratic party activism to win support, as well as the fact that she was the only woman in the race.